


Confrontation

by thegreatandpowerfultoaster



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ep 27 Spoilers, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Not what I set out to write but here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 02:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18714436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatandpowerfultoaster/pseuds/thegreatandpowerfultoaster
Summary: Stern gives him maybe half of the time he'd asked for, leaning awkwardly against the counter before getting a hold of himself. "Barclay, I need answers, now.""Do you want to hurt my family?""What?""Do you," he turns towards Stern, uncovering his face, and speaks again, louder. "Want to hurt any of the people in this lodge?"





	Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

> I was here and so ready to write myself a fluffy Sternclay fic for myself and then I started listening to ep 27 at the same time and thought, "Jake says Barclay went with mama but what if he didn't and stern had a confrontation because he was NOT happy to have been lied to". I'm a mess, this fic is a mess. Have it anyways I guess.

_Pissed_.

Yeah that's a good word for what Stern's feeling right now, after seeing whatever disaster had happened on Live TV just then, and then watching the Amnesty Lodge crumble around him.

First it was Mama taking off, of course with a fire in her eyes that he wouldn't have wanted to cross anyways. But then people had began to panic, and the Hornets were acting a whole lot like their namesake, and not a single person would say a word to him other than Hollis and even then it was just, " _Not right now, I'm busy,_ " and Stern Was  _Pissed_.

Not only had every single person in this Lodge knowingly hid something of this magnitude from him, but when they couldn't hide it anymore they were all just deciding to ignore him in favor of running around like chickens with their heads cut off?

What the  _hell_  is going on here?!

The kitchen door is...It's locked, of course and the shutter around the window into the dining room is shut and locked tight. 

Oh, so Barclay is just going to ignore him too?  _No_ , he's so sick of being ignored, of not being taken seriously, of being lied to.

His knuckles rap roughly on the wooden door into the kitchen. It can still barely be heard over the bustling lodge.

"P-Please go away. I'll figure...I'll figure something out, but I just need a minute."

This response manages to give the absolutely livid Stern pause. He sounds so small, so quiet, even for sweet, shy Barclay, who has told him on more than one occasion that he hates being as tall and predisposed for ' _Loud_ ' as he is.

This moment of pause doesn't last any longer than that, however, and he knocks on the door again. "Barclay, this is Agent Stern. You have thirty seconds to open the door before I shoot the handle off and let myself in."

And then he starts to count down from thirty, just to show him that he means business. The door clicks open around the time he reaches sixteen, and it is apparent that Barclay is no longer shrinking in on himself at a poor attempt at inconspicuous.

He has never struck Stern as scary until now. But Barclay is bristled out like a porcupine, and clenching his fists at his side's so that his muscles are pulled taut. And the absolute size of him is something to flinch at, if the look in his eye promising anyone who crosses him harm isn't.

This doesn't seem like the man who had served him breakfast this morning, happy to stay and chat about some inane subject or other for a very long time before hearing the oven timer go off.

Then again, Stern is not feeling especially like the polite hotel guest and obscenely smitten man he'd been this morning either. "You have a great deal of explaining to do it you don't want to end up in a federal prison."

The phone starts ringing about the same time that he says his piece, and Barclay's chest begins to heave up and down with breath in a far less careful and practiced manner.

 It rings, and rings, and Stern notices how red his eyes look . Like he'd been rubbing them a lot, or like he was on the verge of years maybe. It's a mystery he doesn't have the time or the desire to solve.

Someone goes flying past behind him towards the phone on the wall. "I'll get it!" Shrieks Jake Coolice. Barclay continues to just sort of stare, but his breathing becomes more and more uneven and his hands shake in a way that is definitely not with anger.

Stern, however is still angry. 

Angry enough to reach into his coat, under his arm for his gun and open his mouth to make another threat, this time backed up by the firearm. "You have twelve seconds to tell-"

Suddenly his hands are pinned above his head and he is being walked into the kitchen, door shutting behind him. 

Behind  _them_. His gun is in Barclay's other hand (the one not holding his hands above his head, that is) and under any other circumstances Stern might be considering this situation a win.

He reaches out and tries to kick Barclay's leg, maybe enough to get him to stumble back. It hits, of course but if Barclay even felt it he makes no move to prove it. The back of the counter suddenly pushes uncomfortably against the small of his back, and his hands hit into the cupboard above.

"I don't want you to get hurt," says Barclay, but he definitely doesn't sound like he means it. "But I can't deal with this all at once and I just need a minute of quiet, so can you  _please_  just stop pretending you know anything about what's going on here and give me sixty seconds?"

He lets go abruptly and turns around, pacing the unoccupied space with his head in his hands, mumbling things Stern can't even make out.

Stern gives him maybe half of the time he'd asked for, leaning awkwardly against the counter before getting a hold of himself. "Barclay, I need answers, now."

"Do you want to hurt my family?"

"What?"

"Do you," he turns towards Stern, uncovering his face, and speaks again, louder. "Want to hurt any of the people in this lodge?"

"I dunno, did they do anything? What aren't you people telling me? You clearly knew there was a gate, and monsters-" His hand moves to the counter behind him in a futile attempt to find his gun. No use. It's across the room, with-with...

Barclay takes two long steps forward, and his breath is hot on Stern's face. " _Don't..._ Don't call them..." His voice cracks, which serves to make Stern's heart feel the way the crack had sounded.

He doesn't want to be angry, anymore. Being angry is so much work, especially when you like the person you're trying to be angry with as much as he likes Barclay. 

He just wants answers, and to brush the tears off of his cheeks with a gentle hand and ask him what he can do to help, and brush the rest of the issue off.

He moves to do that last part, although it's kind of a job since he's so  _close_ , and once Barclay realizes that he isn't going in to scratch his eyes out or something he straightens up nervously and just standing up straight isn't enough for Stern to reach his cheek.

So he ends up sitting on the counter and making a poor attempt at calming noises and wiping off his cheeks.

And then Barclay starts sobbing, and buries his face into Stern's stomach and starts to tell him that this is all his fault. Stern doesn't know anything about how the lodge is wrapped up in all of this, but he refuses to believe any of it is Barclay's fault.

"I'm so sorry," says Stern over the sobbing. "I'm so sorry I was so mean, I don't know what came over me. I wouldn't hurt you, Barclay. I wouldn't hurt anyone. Yesterday I had to ask you for a plastic cup? It was to take a spider outside because I would felt bad for squishing it. 

"So I definitely wouldn't have hurt you. Because...I love you. Have for a while. Whole...wanna wake up next to you every single morning and kiss those stupid tears right off your face, and fix whatever...whatever this is for you right now."

Oh God, where is he even going with this? Some of the Hornets rev their motorcycles outside. "But at this point, if you want to kick me out that's more than okay. I shouldn't have...you're under a lot of stress, clearly but I was really hoping that we were good enough friends that...I don't know, you'd tell me if you knew about something big like this."

"I would have," he says, only a bit clearer this time. "I was just waiting for the right time. And I'm not going to kick you out. I just need...I just need..."

It's easy enough to run a hand sort of awkwardly through Barclay 's hair while he catches his breath and move s back a bit in order to stand up and wipe off his face, and Stern's hand ends up just on his shoulder.

When Barclay speaks again, his voice breaks. "I wish Mama was here. I don't know what to do. I want to tell you, but if I don't fix this right now, I might not get the chance. I...." He pauses and looks Stern in the eye. "Wait, did you say...?"

"I love you," Stern says again. He means it. "It's okay if you don't feel the same. I realize I barged in here and started to threaten you with a gun while you were already panicking. That doesn't really sum many points up in my favor."

"I love you too. and you were...only doing your job. I get that, I guess. I wasn't super great about it either, was I?"

"I was a little to preoccupied with getting answers to notice," He admits, and moves his hand to Barclay's cheek. "What can I do to prevent a catastrophe?"

His expression sours. "Mama's headed to the gate, I think. Or maybe to Ned. She didn't tell me. And the Pineguard-I mean Duck and Aubrey have to be taking care of..." He starts muttering to himself. "I guess I'd better do something about the Hornets and try to calm everyone down. Do you think Hollis will listen if I try to talk some sense into them?"

"I'll stand next to you and look scary. Probably not scarier than them, but maybe enough to give them pause. Barclay?" He hums in respose, and Stern leans forward on the counter to catch Barclay in a quick kiss. "Things are probably going to get worse before they get better, but I'm a hundred percent here to back you up, okay?"

They walk out of the kitchen hand in hand, and the entirety of the lodge freezes in seeing them. Stern watches Barclay take a deep breath, and gesture at Hollis from across the lobby.


End file.
